Opening day for Sutton schools delayed

Wednesday

Aug 28, 2013 at 6:00 AMAug 28, 2013 at 9:04 PM

By Craig S. Semon, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

SUTTON — The opening of school is being delayed for nearly two weeks for middle and high school students because the town's $59.9 million new middle school/high school project is four months behind schedule.

Students in kindergarten through Grade 8 will begin school Sept. 3, rather than Aug. 28 as originally planned.

"It's going incredibly slow. The project is not moving at the pace that it should," School Superintendent Theodore F. Friend said. "We should be in that (new middle school) building. There is no reason other than the project is moving too slow."

"We're in a three-phase project to build a new middle school/high school," Mr. Friend explained. "The first phase was to tear down the old middle school and then, where the old middle school was, to build new middle school, cafeteria, library, auditorium. And that's what is being constructed right now. Originally, that was supposed to be complete last January. Then it was going to be complete by April. And, now, we're still not in it."

As a result, Mr. Friend said, kindergarten through Grade 8 will have its first day of school next Tuesday, the delay mainly due to busing concerns, while high school students (Grades 9 through 12) will have their first day of school Sept. 9 — and some of them will be in a church complex.

The school district's original intent was to have high school students attend classes in the newly completed middle school. Unfortunately, with the new middle school not being finished, seniors and juniors will instead be attending school at Lifesong Church, 65 Gilmore Drive, for what is hoped will be no more than a few weeks, Mr. Friend said.

"It's a modern facility. It's fully handicapped accessible. It meets all fire codes. It meets all of our technology needs and it certainly meets all of our space needs," Mr. Friend said of the church. "We're bringing a laptop cart down. We will have 20 laptops for teachers. We have access to LCD project. So we will be able to conduct school there (at the church) not much different than we conduct school on our campus for a short period of time."

The church has an occupancy permit for 600 to 700 people and the school district's approximate need will be 200 students and 20 staffers, Mr. Friend said.

Meanwhile, the freshmen and sophomores will go into some of the modular classrooms set up for middle school students, Mr. Friend said.

Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students will remain in modular classrooms, as well as some elementary classrooms, for the duration of the project, while elementary and early learning center students are not affected.

While he openly acknowledged there is mold in the old high school, Mr. Friend said there were never any intentions to go back into the old high school in the first place.

"There is a reason why we are building a new facility, because we needed a new facility," Mr. Friend said. "And I wasn't going to take the risk of having anything go wrong with our students, any health issues. If there was a remote chance that a student could get sick or there was a mold issue, I didn't take that chance."

Mr. Friend blames manpower issues for the construction company's inability to reach its April 1 deadline to complete the new middle school. The new high school completion is slated for December 2014.

He said discussions are continuing about the financial damages the delays have cost the school system.

Mr. Friend said the kitchen and water suppression systems have been tested in the new middle school and passed with flying colors. The fire alarms and elevator should be tested early next week and the remaining egresses and other "punch list" items will be completed shortly, he said.

Because of the delay, Jan. 2 and 3, which were going to be professional development days for teachers, will be regular school days. While the end of the school year is expected not to change, the high school will have to make up four additional days, which have yet to be figured in, Mr. Friend said.

"The facility is gorgeous, and once the parents get in and see this beautiful building, a lot of the issues and consternation by the community will go away," Mr. Friend said. "Yes, it's going to open late, but when it does open, they will be very, very pleased by it."

Initially, the $59.9 million project was expected to cost the town $30.1 million after reimbursement of $29.8 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. TLT Construction presented a winning under-budget bid that came in with an expected net savings to the town of $855,000. Currently, the project is an estimated $2 million under budget.